1. Field of Invention
THIS INVENTION IS IN THE FIELD OF ABSORPTION HEAT PUMPS GENERALLY, AND ABSORPTION HEAT PUMP GENERATORS, IN PARTICULAR.
2. Prior Art
Preliminary search of technical and patent literature has indicated no similar approaches.
Present thermal power generating systems use various bottoming cycles to recover low temperature energy which is otherwise rejected as part of the primary cycle. Thus, the total output of all the cycles result in a greatly improved overall thermal efficiency. For instance, a heat exchanger in the high temperature, low pressure exhaust of a gas turbine engine can function as the boiler of a steam generating plant which, in turn, can energize an absorption heat pump. If this lower temperature is too low to power conventional absorption heat pumps, the energy at such a low temperature must be rejected to the ambient as a thermal waste. Cogeneration potential is often limited by the present requirement for relatively high temperatures to energize the generates of conventional absorption heat pumps. Solar energy is more efficiently collected at a lower fluid temperature which is not usefully accepted by conventional absorption systems.
The present invention avoids the disadvantage of the requirement for high temperature operation of the generator in conventional absorption heat pumps by producing a local pressure drop within the novel double vortex chamber generator which permits the generator to operate at lower temperatures as generally available with the rejected energy of many thermal systems.
Many adsorption heat pump systems suffer from crystalization if the generator temperature drops below fixed limits. These limits, however, drop with generator pressure. This problem can be prevented in conventional absorption heat pump systems by altering the absorber-absorbent solution ratio. The present invention which operates the generates at a lower pressure permits a lower temperature in the generator without the danger of crystallization and without the necessity of altering the absorber-absorbent solution ratio.